


I See Your Value Now

by fallenAngel161



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Actual plot, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Gen, Minor Character Death, Slow Burn, add more ships later, enter Jeff, the group needs a leader
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-13
Updated: 2016-08-06
Packaged: 2018-04-09 03:18:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4331772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallenAngel161/pseuds/fallenAngel161
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jeff Winger is a hit man for hire known for being cold and effective. When a man named Stephan Spreck hires him to kill five thorns in his side, he doesn't think twice.<br/>Or<br/>Jeff embraces his dark side and the rest of the group tries to do the right thing.<br/>AU Greendale is a multibillion-dollar company</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Just Another Job

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so first fanfic on this site . Who!!  
> Enjoy :)

Jeff read through each file, because he doesn’t like surprises. Once he didn’t finish the file on a pretty brunette scientist and she managed to break two fingers, give him a black eye, and stab him in the side before he took her out. He probably should have read that she was a black belt in karate. He wouldn’t make that mistake again. 

Once he finished the files he began to wonder what these particular people meant to Spreck. But his job wasn’t to question. It was to kill. He sipped at the last of his scotch as he set the files down. He set the glass down next to the gun on the table and rubbed his eyes tiredly. He figured that once he took one of them the rest would hole up somewhere. Spreck wanted all five of them dead by the end of the week, which was just unrealistic, but the man had insisted that not a single one could make it to next week. Jeff groaned and considered getting another drink. It was only a matter of time before the guy in the apartment next to him started blaring Abba and singing horribly off key. He was lucky Jeff only killed people he was paid to kill, but he was starting a pros list of putting a bullet through the man’s brain. 

Jeff put the gun in the drawer of his night stand and turned off the lights. Not more than five minutes later “Honey, Honey” started playing from the room next door. 

~~ ~~

His coffee had sadly gone cold ten minutes ago, yet he continued to sip it. There was a knock at the window of the car he was sitting in that made him jump and reach for his gun in the glove compartment, but it was just the security guard from the building across the street. With an annoyed grunt, Jeff lowered the window and the small Asian guard frowned at him. 

“You’re loitering,” he said. 

“Sorry sir, I was just finishing my coffee.” Against better judgement, he took another sip of the coffee and had to physically keep from spitting it out. 

The man eyed him suspiciously. Jeff looked at the small badge pinned to the man’s shirt. “Are you a police officer?”

“No,” the man answered grumpily. 

“What? The way you stand in that uniform, could have fooled me,” he gave him his charming Jeff Winger smile. 

The guard tried to keep a straight face at the compliment, but the corners of his lips curved up. “I’m training to be a policeman now,” he smiled proudly now.

“Oh, really?” Jeff tried his best to sound genuinely interested, but his practice in pretending to care was rusty. 

“Yeah, I’ve been doing all kinds of…” The guard kept talking, but Jeff toned him out when he saw Troy Barnes enter the building he had been staking out for the past two hours.  
“You know what, buddy? I’ve got to go, but it was a real pleasure meeting you. Keep it up.” He got out of the car and headed towards the building. As he walked away he realized he might have spoken sarcastically accidently. He glanced back, but the man had wandered down towards a bunch of teenagers. 

Jeff already knew Troy’s position at the company: Head engineer. He entered the lobby and had to take a double-take. Contrary to the outside of the building that looked old and rustic, the inside was new with glass panels and white walls and “modern” artwork of solid painted canvases.  
He walked up to the receptionist and gave a flirty smile at her. “Morning.”

She looked up and blushed a little. She tucked he long brown hair behind her ear and stuttered a ‘hello’. 

“I just came in to make an appointment with Troy Barnes, is he free this morning?” 

“Troy?” The girl looked confused.

“The head of engineering….”

“Oh! Right, Troy…” She turned to her computer in embarrassment and started typing rapidly on her computer. “Uh… he can’t meet with anyone this morning, sorry.” He looked up at him with big brown eyes.

Jeff glanced at the name plate on her desk. “Well, Annie…” She giggled a little when he said her name. “Is he free tonight… around five?”

She nodded and typed some more into her computer. “Yes, he is free. Should I put you down for an appointment?”

“Yeah, that’d be… oh, wait, I have something else happening then. Got to bring my neighbor to pick up his car from the dealer; he got rear ended. Uh, I think I’ll come back later after checking my calendar.” He tapped his knuckles against the desk before heading out. Now that he knew Troy wouldn’t be in the office, he knew he would be in his apartment. The address was listed in the file. 

As he exited that building he saw the security guard getting chased by the group of teenagers yelling “You suck!” and throwing things. 

~~ ~~

Annie sighed and looked at her reflection in the computer screen. She really wished she’d done something more…courageous with her hair. She would have if she’d known that hot guy was going to come in. She cringed at remembering that she didn’t even remember Troy existed when he asked. He probably thought she was an idiot she thought sadly to herself. Her self-pity session was cut short when Abed walked up to her desk. 

“Hi, Annie,” he greeted with his usual monotone voice. 

“Hey, Abed,” she greeted while trying to hide that she was upset about her foolish actions just because some guy was hot. 

Abed tilted his head and looked like he was about to say something but then he furrowed his eyebrows and changed his mind. “Pierce called a meeting.” 

“Uggg. How many times is he going to do that?”

“He thinks that they’re on to him.”

“Well if they aren’t yet all these secret meetings are going to alert them.”

Abed shrugged and turned heading back to the elevator. Annie quickly raced after him. Once they were inside and the doors were closed Abed seemed to decide it was a good time to bring up what was bothering her either.  
“You seemed upset.” It was a question. Or a demand for an answer. An observation.  
“I just did something stupid in front of someone.” 

Abed stared at the changing numbers on the elevator as it went up. “’Those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.’”

“It was a first impression though, Abed.”

Abed frowned. “How did you think of this person’s first impression on you?”

“He was cool…and cute… and charming…”

Abed made a little sound in the back of his throat. “C-words… Cold. Cunning.”

“I’m not playing a game, Abed!”

Abed looked at her. “You’re worried that because you did something stupid that this person that you’ve found yourself attracted to will think badly of you. You’re worried because first impressions are something that can’t be changed. They’re first. But you’re forgetting that you work for a prestigious company that doesn’t hire stupid people, even as a receptionist. Either this person is smart enough to realize that you being ‘stupid’ was just because of your attraction to them or they are the stupid one.” Abed stared at her as she sniffled a little. 

“Thanks, Abed.” 

“You’re welcome.” The elevator door opened and he stepped out and started walking down the hallway. He entered the conference room at the end of the hall. Already inside and seated around the conference table were Pierce Hawthorne, Britta Perry, Shirley Bennett, and Troy Barnes. 

“About time,” Pierce grumbled as Abed and Annie entered. “We need to discuss secrecy.” 

“We’re not spies, Pierce, you are aware of that aren’t you?” Britta asked with a slightly concerned looked. 

“I can’t keep leaving my post to come up here. I get paid by the amount of sales I get, which I’m not getting if I’m here,” Shirley said and then added, “I have two boys I need to be taking care of.”

Britta groaned, “We know. You can stop bringing them up.”

“Pierce, why are we here?” Annie decided she didn’t want to sit through another group arguing session. 

“I heard some chatter that outside help had been hired to ‘finish off’ the ‘issues’ that have been poking around where they don’t belong.”

“Wait; are they, like, going to get us fired?” Troy asked in raising panic. 

“They can try but us Hawthornes never give in easily,” Pierce said while looking quite pleased with himself.

“Wait, Pierce. ‘Finish off’ were those the exact words?” Britta asked. Pierce nodded.

“Oh dear,” Shirley shook her head and stood up. 

“Don’t worry, Shirley, they can’t fire you, the guys on top don’t want to come across as racist,” Pierce assured her then whispered, “You’re a minority.” 

“I think ‘finish off’ means kill, Pierce,” Britta said.

“What!” Troy stood quickly and went over to Abed. “Tell me she’s delusional.”

Abed frowned, “If the CEO’s of Greendale found out that someone knew about the fraud and the scandals they would do anything to protect themselves, including hiring someone to kill us.”

There were several gasps and worried glances. 

“But they only mentioned five ‘issues’ so I’m probably safe, right?” Pierce said. 

~~ ~~

Jeff looked in disgust at an ad for some fast-food restaurant the starred a picture of a giant cheeseburger. He was staked out in front of Troy and Abed’s apartment. He was quite pleased that two of his targets lived in the same apartment making it much easier to take them out. Now he just had to wait for them to come home. 

He hated the waiting part of his job. Usually he could stand being patient for a while, but when he was getting close to a kill he’d start getting antsy. He tapped his fingers against the wheel of his car and huffed. They had to be getting back soon. He was eager to kill someone. He checked his gun’s clip yet again and the silencer. 

Finally, he saw their car pull into a parking space. He watched as the doors opened and his two targets stepped out. They exchanged a brief conversation then Abed returned to the passenger side of the car and Troy jogged into the building.

Jeff frowned and glared out the window. Why wasn’t Abed going inside, too? What was he doing? Come on. Go inside. Groaning, Jeff leaned his forehead against the window as he glared out at the car hoping that with sheer mind power he could get Abed to leave the car. Instead the apartment building’s door opened and Troy came back out with a briefcase. He got into the car, tossed the briefcase into the backseats, started the car, and backed it out of the parking space. 

Great. Now his targets were leaving, and he had no idea where they were going. Jeff started his own car and waited a bit before he pulled out and followed his targets onto the street. He’d just have to kill them when they reached wherever they were going.


	2. Inexperience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jeff might be in a little over his head with this particular group.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the kudos and generous comment . I'm glad you all enjoyed :)

He could be home. He could be taking a hot shower. He could be eating dinner. But no, he was following Troy Barnes and Abed Nadir around in their piece of crap car. He fiddled with the radio stations while he watched the car make yet another U-turn. 

“Thank god!” He muttered when the car finally turned off the street and onto an unpaved road. He dimmed his headlights as he followed it. It pulled to a stop by the door of a warehouse. Along the side of painted in big bolded letters was: ‘Greendale’ and underneath is in slightly smaller lettering was ‘Industries’ but the ‘ies’ had to be crammed together to fit. He stopped his own car and turned it off so it could fade into the darkness of the fast approaching night. 

“Idiots,” Jeff muttered under his breath as he glared at the badly planned lettering. Troy and Abed got out of the car and went to the door of the warehouse. They had a short discussion then Abed did some weird knocking code on the door. They talked quietly until the door was opened. 

Jeff was caught off guard when he saw the pretty receptionist at the warehouse door. He wished he could hear what they were saying, but he wasn’t close enough. After they went inside, he got out and crept towards the door, gun in hand. 

Why do they have to be at some scary-ass warehouse for secret meetings or whatever? Why couldn’t they have just gone home? Why couldn’t this have been an easy job? A tragic end to two best friends who were robbed and sadly killed when trying to fight back? It could have been that simple. 

He moved along the edge of the building and paused to look in through one of the dusty windows. Inside there were rows and rows of boxes stacked on top of each other. And on the floor were painted arrows, lines, and numbers as markings and directions. Standing among the stacks and by a parked forklift were his five targets and the receptionist named Annie.

~~ ~~

Annie was stuck between two sides of an argument involving the Star Wars Originals and she didn’t know what side to choose. Luckily, Pierce interrupted the two arguing friends before they could turn to her to break the tie. 

“Did you get the…stuff?” 

Abed set a duffel bag on the floor and everyone circled around it. “Are you sure we need these?” Troy asked. 

“Of course we do! Especially if there’s a hitman running around trying to kill me; I’m not going anywhere empty-handed!” Pierce said. Britta walked over and opened the bag's zipper to reveal six handguns. 

“Oh my god!” She jumped back and looked at Abed then Troy then Pierce.

Shirley gasped and shook her head. “This is no way to go about this.”

“What do you suggest?” 

“Something that doesn’t involve carrying deadly weapons around without a permit,” Annie said sounding exasperated. 

“What we’re doing at Greendale is…” Troy looked at Abed.

“Dangerous,” Abed offered. 

“Yeah, dangerous.”

“I’m not carrying a gun around! I have two kids.” Shirley was cut off by everyone groaning. 

“Troy’s right. We all knew there was a chance this could get ugly,” Britta said.

“I don’t even know how to use a real gun,” Troy admitted. 

“Really?” Pierce looked at him in surprise.

“I could teach you,” Annie said a little sheepishly while completely ignoring Pierce’s comment. 

Abed titled his head and raised his eyebrows. Britta and Shirley looked at her with mouths slightly agape. 

“Really?” Pierce said again. 

“Yeah… I might have learned to shoot when I was planning on getting a small gun to keep in my purse.”

“Cool.” Troy said.

“Cool. Cool. Cool,” Abed repeated. 

~~ ~~

Jeff watched Annie take out a gun from the duffel bag on the floor. He watched her check the safety and then take out the clip. Her movements were slow and sloppy, not of a trained killer like himself. 

He watched the rest of the group pick up guns and wished that he had gone inside earlier. Now he had to deal with six untrained gun-wielding targets. Perfect. 

He opened the door,luckily it didn’t creak. He stepped in and glanced around. Directly in front of him was a row of crates that were each marked with the Greendale logo. Jeff walked down to the end of the row and peaked around to the other side. Pierce Hawthorne was standing by a big blue crate labeled ‘Fragile’ and mumbling quietly to himself. Jeff didn’t know where the rest had gone but he didn’t want to wait and find out. He glanced around briefly and upon seeing the two of them alone he stepped out from the boxes and walked up behind Pierce while raising his gun.

Jeff Winger wasn’t above shooting someone in the back. He wished he was but he wasn’t. There may be honor between thieves, but Jeff had seen no honor with the other hitmen he had met. 

However, once he got closer to Pierce he heard a startled ‘oh’ from behind him. He turned quickly, gun up and safety off. If there was anything he learned from his years as a hitman it was not to waste time with the safety on. 

Shirley Bennet was standing at the end of the row of boxes with her own gun up, safety on. Jeff had to resist snarkingly pointing it out. Instead he heard Pierce make some surprised sounds followed by a ‘what the hell!?’. 

“Who are you?” Shirley asked, her voice shaking. Before he could respond Britta and Troy came around the corner and stopped wide-eyed at Shirley with her gun out. They followed her gaze to him. Troy jumped back and Britta fumbled with her gun and dropped it. While Britta picked up her gun Pierce walked around to stand next to Shirley.  
“Who the hell are you?” He repeated the question Shirley had asked not more than a minute ago.

“He’s obviously here to kill us!” Britta said as she turned the safety off on her gun. Jeff tensed; he didn’t like having so many guns in untrained hands. 

“Hey, there are a lot of guns out here. Maybe you should go ahead and put those down before somebody gets hurt,” Jeff looked at Shirley with a look that said he knew what was best; she glanced around anxiously and lowered her arm a bit. “I’m sure you’re all aware of the danger of flying bullets…” 

Shirley lowered her arm until Britta snapped at her to keep it up. “We’re not putting our guns down until you put down yours.” 

Jeff hesitated. He didn’t want to put down his most powerful weapon besides his amazing muscles, quick wit, and handsome face. But he also didn’t want to test anyone with a gun. He knew well enough that just because someone had never shot a gun before doesn’t mean they won’t. And the fact that they were untrained doesn’t lessen the chance of them causing a fatal wound. 

He didn’t get a chance to finish the decision before something hard slammed against the back of his head, he was unconscious before he even hit the ground. 

Standing over him Annie dropped the metal pipe that clanked and rolled next to him. “Oh god…”

Pierce nudged Jeff’s hand with his foot. “Now what?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Cliffhangers!


	3. Thoraxis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group recovers from an assassination attempt and Annie appreciates abs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comment :) And most of all, enjoy!

 “Oh my God!” Troy pointed at Annie as if to empathize his shock.

“I… I didn’t know what else to do!”

“Oh…my…god,” Britta said.

“You knocked him out with a metal pipe!” Troy moved nervously toward the unconscious man.

“Stop yelling at me! He had a gun to your face!”

“You’re the one that’s yelling!”

“Guys...” Abed tried to break into their hysterical screaming.

“Oh my god, I don’t know what to do!”  Troy started jumping around the unconscious body. “I can’t think! It’s like my whole brain is crying!”

“Everybody just calm down!” Britta called, but her words had no effect on the raising panic.

“HEY!” Everyone went dead quiet and turned to Shirley who had positioned herself right next to the man and in the center of the rest of the group. “You all need to stop.”

“But, what are we supposed to do?” Annie motioned to the hitman.

Shirley looked at them and then looked around. “We tie him up. And make sure he doesn’t have any other guns or… weapons.”

“What do we do when he wakes up?”

“Find out who he is and why he wants to kill us.” Shirley nodded.

“We should search his pockets. Maybe he has some ID,” Britta said.  Troy and Abed rolled him over and started searching his pockets.

“Oh my god. That’s the guy,” Annie said while pointing at him.

“Yes, Annie. That is a guy,” Peirce said slowly.

“No, Pierce, I mean that guy came into Greendale. He was looking for Troy.”

“You mean the guy you were attracted to?” Abed asked, monotone

“What? No! That’s not… I’m not…” She fell quiet as the group stared at her. “Okay… Maybe a little bit.”

Pierce made a face while and Britta both looked down at him and tilted their heads.  

“Here, I found a wallet!” Troy announced. He made a big show of opening it up and looking through the contents. “I can’t believe this guy doesn’t have any gift cards. I keep my gift cards on me at all times. You never know when you’ll be craving free froyo.”

Annie snatched the wallet from him and pulled out a driver’s license. “Tobias Thoraxis?”

“That’s fake,” Abed said.

“How do you know?” Annie challenged.

“A good hitman would never keep a real ID on him.” Abed tilted his head.

“Or he just might be a bad hitman with a weird name,” Pierce said.

“Do you think he prefers hitman or assassin?” Troy asked.

“We need to figure out who this guy is,” Britta said.

“Well, he had to have gotten here somehow,” Annie went to the window and looked out. “Maybe he has a car parked somewhere.”

“Probably assassin,” Abed answered Troy, apparently uninterested in what everyone else had been saying.

“I’m going out to look,” Britta said. Troy and Abed started after her, but Shirley pulled them back.

“Someone needs to tie this guy up,” she motioned,

With Troy, Abed, and Pierce, who wasn’t actually helping, taking care of the unconscious man on the floor, Annie, Britta, and Shirley went outside to find the car.  They eventually found it, tucked into the darkness.

“It’s locked,” Annie said after trying the door. She headed back to warehouse and found Abed and Troy each holding a gun. “What the hell are you doing?” She startled them. They both had a look like a child caught doing something they shouldn’t.

“They’re his,” Troy said, pointing to the man.

“Put them down,” Annie pointed to a crate. They quickly put the two weapons down next to each other. “Where’s Pierce?”

Troy and Abed shrugged.

“Okay, whatever, I need his car keys. Did you find any?”

Troy shook his head. “We didn’t get around to the pockets….you know…the _guns_.”

Annie sighed and crouched down next to ‘Tobias’ and started searching his pockets. When Troy and Abed had found the second gun his shirt had been thrown up revealing his abdomen. She tried to ignore it but _damn_ he was _fine_. Finally, she found the car keys. She stood up and saw Troy and Abed looking at her. “What?”

“You were gawking,” Troy said.

“No I wasn’t!”

Abed nodded, “You were.”

Blushing, she quickly left the two of them and hurried out to the car with the keys. They went through the front and back and found another gun hidden under the back seat, another in the glove compartment, and files on each of them except Annie.

“Wow,” Britta said as she looked through her file. “How do they even know about that?”

“What?” Annie asked.

“Nothing,” Britta took the page from the file and folded it up and stuffed it in her pocket.

“This is disturbing,” Shirley said as she flipped through her own folder, “And wrong.”

“Let’s show this to the guys,” Annie jumped up, picked up the other three folders, and headed back to the warehouse.

Shirley turned to Britta. “Maybe we should stop, Britta. I mean, look at what this guy knows about us!”

Britta started walking towards the warehouse. “Let’s not jump to anything just yet. Maybe Annie hit him hard enough for him to lose his memory.”

Abed and Troy had tied the man to a chair and were now looking at their files that Annie had brought in.

Pierce walked over looking pleased with himself. “My contact at the police station says he can run a finger print of our guy here.”

“I’ll go with you,” Abed said, quickly. He nodded to the man’s gun that was still on the crate. “He could probably get a print off of that.”

“I’ll go with you,” Britta said with a quick glance at Shirley.

“Me too,” Annie and Troy said at the same time.

“No, we need some people to stay here with him,” Shirley said.

“Fine,” Annie groaned but she didn’t exactly sound disappointed.

“Just call us when you find out who he is.”

* * *

 

Jeff awoke with a headache. He tried to lift his hand only to discover that it was tied to the arm of a chair he was sitting in, which was weird, because he didn’t remember sitting down, or being tied up, or getting knocked out. He slowly looked around at his surroundings and then he remembered.

In front of him were two of his targets and the receptionist named Annie. All three of looked nervous, yet at the same time were trying to come across as calm and collected. He could see right through it.

“Well…” He looked at the one speaking… what was her name? Oh right, Shirley Bennett, mother of two. “It seems we have a problem, Tobias.” He frowned. They must have seen his fake ID.

“If that is your real name,” Annie butted in, leaning forward with her arms crossed. Next to her was Troy Barnes. He was having trouble keeping a straight face.

Shirley glared at them and mouthed some words that seemed to be ‘be quiet’. She turned back to Jeff. “So how about you tell us who hired you.”

“We know who hired him,” Annie broke in. “Greendale.”

“Yah, they know that we’ve been-“ Troy stopped and looked at Jeff suspiciously.

“Can I talk to you two… privately,” Shirley pulled them both away without waiting for an answer.

Jeff smirked. Amateurs. They didn’t know what they were doing or how to continue. Of course that opened up the possibly that they would kill him out of fear. He would have to handle the situation carefully. He pulled at the rope around his wrists. They were loose.

He looked around. His gun  was gone and backup gun were sitting on a crate. They seemed to have cleared a space for themselves in the midst of all the boxes. He could hear the three of them behind a row of boxes whispering indistinctly. Not exactly skilled kidnappers. He twisted as far as he could in the chair and looked behind him to see a set of windows. Several were blocked by boxes, but he could see that he was in the same warehouse as before, not surprising from a group of amateurs. He wondered if they found his car. If they searched it they would have found his other tools and a couple extra fake passports, nothing to important or anything that could give away his identity. He hoped.

He sighed. If he planned this right he could escape and maybe even take out his targets in the progress.

Shirley, Troy, and Annie returned. Annie stepped up. “So, _Jeffery.”_ She put as much emphasis in the name as possible as if to show off that she knew it. “How much is Greendale paying you to kill us?”


	4. Count Your Bullets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are probably more glamorous ways to go out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait... School has just been pretty stressful, but there's always more to come :) Comment and kudos!

Abed had put on sunglasses. He got out of the back seat of Britta’s car and walked confidently towards the police station. Pierce and Britta walked in behinds him looking slightly confused and a little bit concerned. “So, who is it that we’re meeting?”

“Officer Cackowski.” Pierce said, “He’s helped out the family a couple times.”

Britta frowned, “you mean he hides any illegal activities you do so it doesn’t hurt your position at Greendale?”

Pierce didn’t answer the question; instead he headed towards one of the officer’s desks. The man spotted him and looked around quickly before approaching them. “Why are you here?”

“We need to get fingerprints off of this.” Pierce nodded to Britta who opened his purse to show him the gun.

“Wha…you can’t bring a gun in here! Do you have a license?”

“It’s not mine,” Britta said.

The officer groaned.

“A guy tried to kill us!”

“Then why didn’t you call the cops?”

Pierce leaned in close, “Because we don’t know who to trust.”

Cackowski sighed, “Alright, let me take some prints off the gun.” He pulled on some latex gloves and took the gun out of her purse. As he walked away Britta noticed Abed talking to a cop a couple desks away.

She called him over. He put on his sunglasses, said something to the cop, and sauntered over. “What were you doing, Abed?”

“Call me Axel Foley,” he said.

Britta decided it was best not to ask and instead sat down in one of the chairs that were lined along the wall. A couple seats away was a guy who smiled at her. He had blond hair and light scruff and a long woven necklace. He moved over a seat and offered his hand. “I’m Vaughn. And you?”

Britta eyed his hand briefly before taking it. “Britta.”

He smiled and said some overused pick up line about how he likes her name. She was saved from having to talk to him anymore when Officer Cackowski came over and told her that he was running the fingerprints now.

Britta, Pierce, and Abed all crowded around computer as it san through tons of images while comparing the prints.

“How long is this going to take?” Pierce asked.

“It could take a while. The guy’s fingerprints might not even be in the database.”

Peirce shook his head, “If all else fails, Abed can always seduce him.”

“What?” Britta stared at him in shock then looked at Abed who simply just wiggled his eyebrows.

* * *

 

A car pulled up to the warehouse and came to a stop next to Jeff’s car. The driver looked down at the phone that showed two red blinking lights and then looked towards the passenger seat where an aluminum baseball bat rested. He picked it up and exited the vehicle. The bat shined in the moonlight as he approached the warehouse door.

* * *

 

The computer beeped and a popup window appeared saying ‘Match Found’. Cackowski clicked it and a file popped up.

The name written at the top was ‘Jeffery Winger’ and underneath was a picture of the man that Annie knocked unconscious. He was giving the camera a small smirk but his eyes were looking off screen.

“Arrested for being drunk and disorderly…” Cackowski clicked on a link that opened up to the arrest report. “Three years ago.”

“Well, at least we have a name now.”

Britta took out her phone and called Shirley. On the second ring she picked up. “We have a name.”

“Good. We were getting nowhere…” Britta can hear the irritation in Shirley’s voice.  

“Jeffery Winger arrested for being drunk and disorderly three years ago.”

She heard Annie’s voice say “ _Jeffery_?”

“Thanks Britta,” Shirley said followed by “Stop trying to check him out! He’s not-“ Then the call cut off.

* * *

 

The look on his face was priceless. Annie crossed her arms and smirked at him. He quickly hid and shock from hearing his name, but she knew he was thrown. “Well, how much is Greendale paying you?”

“I don’t work for Greendale,” he said. He said it like it was supposed to be obvious.

“I don’t believe you,” She said. He tilted his head at her and ran his eyes up and down her body. She suddenly felt very nervous and self-aware.

“Yeah, we don’t believe you,” Troy moved next to her and crossed his arms in an attempt to look threatening.

Jeff raised an eyebrow in amusement and smirked lightly. Troy faltered a bit at the response.

Annie frowned. There was something about this guy. It was the way he looked at them like they had to prove themselves; it jabbed at her self-esteem. He raised his eyebrows like he was disappointed.

Jeff sighed, “Listen, I don’t know what you did to think that the company you work for is trying to kill you but-“

“Pierce heard them say they hired someone. We’re not stupid,” Annie snapped.

Jeff frowned at her because he _wasn’t_ hired by Greendale. It was Spreck who had hired him to kill them. And if they say Greendale also wants them dead then that means… Shit.

“We have all night,” Shirley said.

“Okay, here’s the thing, I don’t work for Greendale. If they wanted you dead, it wouldn’t be hard, especially since they probably know _everything_ about you.”

“Not everything,” Troy said, sounding strained.

“Anything you say, any email you send, everywhere you think you’re safe…” He glanced around to empathize his point. “They know.”

Horrified, Annie looked to Shirley. “Do you think-“ There was clank as the door was opened. Everyone froze.  

“Are they back?” Annie whispered. Jeff pulled against the restraints, he just needed time.

Someone was walking between the rows of boxes, coming closer.

“I don’t think so,” Shirley said, he calm demeaned replaced with growing terror.

“I told you Greendale didn’t hire me,” Jeff hissed.

They hear a baseball bat scraping the ground. Without hesitating, Annie turned and ran in the opposite direction through the rows. Her fast falling footsteps catch the attention of the new arrival. The sound of heavy footsteps grew closer.

“Nope,” Troy whispered and turned to sprint after her. Shirley was close behind.

Desperately, Jeff pulled on the ropes. They were loose enough to rub against the chair. He needed more time. A figure appeared at the end of the hall. With his heart beating and adrenaline pumping, Jeff heard the chair creek as he pulled on the ropes. The figure stepped into the light and with sinking feeling Jeff realized he recognized him.

“Starburns.”

A grin spread across the man’s face. “Jeff! Funny meeting you here. I thought I was the only one called in on the job.”

“It’s need-to-know,” Jeff grumbled.

Starburn’s shook his head. “Nah, man, I was told to kill everyone in the warehouse. They did _not_ mention you.” A wild grin appeared on his face and he raised the bat.

“Whoa! Wait! What are you doing? The other three are running to the exit right now and you’re wasting your time on the one guy that’s tied up?”

Starburns lowered the bat a bit.

“Any killer who is anything knows not to waste precious time. But, I guess, an amateur like you wouldn’t know that.”

Starburns frowned and looked towards the box where his guns were. He picked up on, checked the clip, and then tucked it into his waistband. As he started walking away he turned and looked back at Jeff “Don’t go anywhere.”

“I’ll be right here,” Jeff answered with a grin. Starburns nodded and turned back the rows. Once he was out of sight Jeff went back to tugging at the ropes. The arm of the chair splintered off sending little wood chips spraying. The piece of wood fell from the ropes leaving them useless.

His wrists had rope burn now and he gently rubbed them in an attempt to calm the irritated skin. He looked towards his gun and smiled, it was sitting there patient and ready. He grabbed it and checked the clip. Six bullets. He turned and faced the rows of boxes.

A scream echoed throughout the warehouse.

He took off running and turned down one of the rows to saw that Starburns had cornered Annie and she was trying to deflect the baseball bat with a clipboard. He raised his gun and clicked off the safety. “Hey!” Starburns turned and he pulled the trigger twice.

The bullets would have gone through his head had Annie not kicked Starburns in the back of the leg sending him to the ground. Instead the bullets went into the box behind him. Starburns was on his feet and running at him, bat raised. Jeff aimed and fired twice again. This time the bullets hit Starburns’ arm and he dropped the bat with a pained yell. But his momentum was enough to tackle Jeff to the ground. The gun went off once into the ground, but Starburns’ weight and speed was enough to knock it from his hand.  

Jeff elbowed Starburns in the face and reached for the gun but instead Starburns jumped on him and grabbed his hair pulling his head up at a painful angle. He reached behind him scraping at Starburns face and kicking at his legs. He managed to knock Starburns off to the side and kicked blindly at him. His foot connected with something soft. Instantly Starburns dropped with a squeak of pain and curled in on himself.  

Jeff got up and ran for his gun. Before he reached it he heard gunshots and bullets hit the ground around him. Forced to change direction and dived for cover behind a forklift. Crap. Starburns still had the other gun. He peeked around the forklift and saw Starburns approaching. Once Starburns paused his shooting and moved closer Jeff leaped over the forks of the forklift and clocked Starburns in the side of the face and grabbed the gun out of his hand. He pointed it directly at Starburns’ face and pulled the trigger. The gun made a clicking sound and did nothing more.

“Damn it!” Jeff flipped the gun in his hand and hit Starburns in the face with it. Starburns grabbed his shirt and the two of them tumbled to the ground and rolled to a stop with Jeff on the bottom. Starburns grabbed at Jeff’s arm with his left while pulling his right arm back to hit him. Jeff reached up and grabbed Starburns’ wrist while his other arm was caught.

Now they were at a stalemate. Neither could hit the other without releasing the other’s arm. In an attempt to get the upper hand, Starburns bit into Jeff’s arm. Jeff yelped and managed to pull his other arm away. With Starburns on top of him, his knee digging to his ribs and teeth drawing blood from his arm, Jeff twisted trying to see something he could use to defend himself. His gun. It was close by now. He just had to…. Grunting with effort he extended his free arm his fingers scrabbling madly for the weapon. Once he had it in his hand he pulled it closer and tried to point it towards Starburns head but he noticed the gun and grabbed at his arm. The muscles in his arm strained from the effort. He twisted his wrist till the gun was pressed against Starburns’ neck and pulled the trigger.

A ringing filled his ears and blood bursted everywhere. Over his face and clothes and into the air. Starburns choked for a couple second as blood gushed from the hole in his neck and bits of torn skin hung around the wound. It sounded sad and truly awful as blood ran from the hole and onto Jeff’s shirt. Then Starburns went limp on top of him. With a grunt, Jeff pushed the body off of him and stood. The ringing faded and he reached up and wiped at the blood dripping into his eyes.

Once he could hear normally he turned around and saw that Annie was now holding Starburns’ bat.

“Oh, I’m not doing that again.” He raised his gun and pulled the trigger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No baseball bats or forklifts were harmed in the making of this chapter.


	5. The Hammer Falls Empty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's not over yet. And you thought you saw the last of me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So i wish i had an excuse for why it took so long....

Looking back, Annie Edison believed she had not lived life to the fullest in her 19 years. She’d had some run-ins with drugs and became best friends with his high-school crush, but at this moment she was alone in a warehouse with a gun pointed at her head and she was filled of regrets. 

But apparently her life had an encore. The six bullet gun had already been discharged six times.  

She could feel her heart hammering away in her ribcage and the adrenaline rushing through her veins as the near-death experience passed with the empty click.  The bat felt strange in her hands. It was made for someone with bigger hands and as she looked down at it she noticed that there were a series of rusty colored dents along its barrel. Well, that was horrifying.

Jeff sighed and lowered his arm. It was that moment that he realized he should have let Starburn’s take out his targets and _then_ kill him. Wow, great job, Jeff.

Annie clutched the bat in her hands. With all honesty, she didn’t want to use it. She was horrified by the idea of bludgeoning someone. Much to her surprise, Jeff set the gun on a nearby crate and with a sigh, ran a hand through his hair. “Listen, Annie, your own company wants to kill you. Your company’s rival company wants to kill you. I’m not sure what you did, but one thing I know for sure is that you won’t be getting anywhere by killing me.”

She narrowed her eyes. She had no intent to believe him partly because he was a handsome son of a bitch but mostly because he had just tried to shoot her. Yet, he looked tired and she wanted him to prove to her there was a way in which she didn’t have to hurt him. She lowered the bat slightly, watching him as she did. He watched her warily and patiently. She frowned, “How am I supposed to trust you?”

Now, Jeff wasn’t someone who liked to pride himself with having morals. In fact, he preferred to separate himself from them as much as possible. It was part of the job. So as he stood there in a warehouse with an empty gun and a woman holding the baseball bat of the man he just killed, he knew he had to bullshit his way out of this. However, just the smallest part of him insisted that he could help this girl. Not to mention, she was hot. He frowned. He could not allow those kind of thoughts to interrupt any kind of mission whether it was killing someone or getting the hell out of somewhere. The last time he made that mistake he got stabbed with a fork, hit in the face with a frying pan, and got blood all over his nice shoes. 

Trust was a delicate thing. Gaining it was difficult but losing it was as easy as breathing. For someone in his line of work, it was best to avoid trusting anyone. Yet here he was trying to gain the trust of a target. No, former target. All he had to do was get out of this and never look back.

“I’m not asking you to trust me. I’m asking you to think logically.”

 “Logically? You tried to kill me!”

“To be fair, you kidnapped me.”

“After you tried to kill my friends.”

Jeff groaned, “Fine. But I saved your life.” He looked over at Starburn’s body.

Annie followed his line of sighed but quickly looked away in disgust. “Thanks,” she mumbled sarcastically.

“Let’s just put the weapons down…” he motioned to the bat, “and go our separate ways.”

“Really? Just walk away?”

Jeff took a deep breath and sighed, “I’ve found in life that there are some things that aren’t worth…fighting, much less dying, for.”

Annie lowered the bat and let it clank to the ground. It was exhausting holding it up for so long anyways. “Fine. Then walk away. But I expect to _never_ see you again. Understand?”

Jeff smiled, “Oh course, Annie. Good luck with the bull’s eye on your backs.”

As soon as he was gone, Troy and Shirley barged in with guns raised. They looked around at Annie and Starburns’ body.

“Oh my!” Shirley gasped and nudged the body with her foot.

“Thank god you’re alive!” Troy said and ran to wrap Annie in a hug.

“Where the hell were you two?” Annie demanded.

Troy pulled back and looked down at her shoes. “Would you believe planning to heroically save you as soon as we found a good website on how to shoot guns?”

Annie truly believed that that would be the last time she would ever see the handsome assassin named Jeffery Winger, however, it seemed fate had a different idea as it would not be long before their paths crossed again. But until then….there were some people who needed to learn to shoot a gun.

~~

There’s a thing about reputation. So hard to build up and so easy to tarnish. Like trust. Life for Jeff Winger went downhill. Radically fast. See, no one wants to hire an assassin that can’t finish a job because murder is definitely something you don’t want screwed up. So Jeff spent the better part of a year working security for a piece of shit night club. The illegal stuff that happened there nearly made _him_ call the cops. But then one night while he’s throwing out two drunk guys from the club he gets a call. He snaps at the two men to get lost and pulls out the phone. “What?”

There’s a shot pause and then “Jeff Winger?”

“What do you want?” he catches one of the guys giving him the finger as they stumble off. Dick.

“I need you to kill someone. I’ll pay anything.”

Jeff smiles. _I’m back, baby._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah this chapter was short so sorry about that. Kudos and Comment! I absolutely love to hear from you!


	6. Grim Reaper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annie sets out complete their mission and runs into our infamous killer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> time for more erratic updating!

“With the end of one story comes the beginning of another. To us.” Annie raised her glass of water. The rest of room grumpily agreed. Abed and Troy both had apple juice and Shirley also had water. Britta and Pierce were the only ones with a beer.

The group of six were sitting and Troy and Abed’s new apartment. They had spent the day moving and were all extremely tired. Abed looked around at his friends and the silence that filled the room. “Want to play a game?”

“No.” Everyone responded in chorus at the same time as Annie said “Sure.”

The heavy silence that filled the room has been there for too long. The constant hiding, the fear, the paranoia, it never faded. They spent all their time waiting for another assassin and it could be anyone. The only reason Troy and Abed moved was because Abed kept insisting he saw someone watching through the window.

Annie looked around the room. Troy and Abed, though sitting with each other, weren’t saying a word. Brita looked like she was trying to get drunk four times over. Pierce was looking around with suspicion that never seemed to fade and Shirley looked like she hadn’t slept in a decade. They were splintering. This was all because they were trying to do the right thing. Maybe it would be better to stop. To just let the corporations singlehandedly destroy the world. Greendale was unstoppable. They had security and they had lawyers. They couldn’t be touched. Their little crusade had failed.

“Annie are you crying?” Shirley’s voice broke her thoughts. Annie shook her head and wiped away the tear quickly.

“No. Everything is fine.” Shirley shrugged and looked down at her phone.

It was like the bond between them was faltering with every attempt to fix the last crack. They were in no means strong enough to take down a corporation with billions of dollars, security at every turn, and lawyers on retainer.

  
If she was going to bring them back together and finish what they started she was going to have to do it herself.

  
She looked amongst her friends who all looked tired and overworked. She could find something that would redirect them back on course, right.  
  
It was the middle of the night when she arrived at the library. The building was enormous with tall pillars that reached toward the sky and tile floors that made a soft tap noise every time she took a step. She spent hours upon hours doing research. She found out more about Greendale than she had while working there. But one thing seemed particularly interesting. Smiling, she grabbed the maps and book she was currently reading and raced to the apartment.  
  
When she arrived Shirley and Pierce had long since left. Britta was passed out drunk on their couch, Abed was watching a movie, and Troy was in the kitchen. She burst through the doors practically glowing with excitement. She looked around the apartment in disappointment.

  
"Where is everybody?"

  
"They left," Troy muttered. He had a large plate of store-bought cookies sitting in front of him. The cookies she had brought for the party. He picked one up and took a bite.

  
"Well, text them to come back so I can show you guys what I found!"

  
Troy said something through the cookie.

  
"We can't," Abed said without looking away from the TV screen. "Shirley's going home to spend time with her kids; you know she turns off her phone so there's nothing we can do to distract her. Pierce said we were insensitive and then tried to put some kind of curse on us and left with the entire six pack he brought. And Britta..." He turned to look at the couch. "She passed out within the first five minutes of Terminator." He shook his head disapprovingly.  
  
Annie sighed. She was going to finish this if it killed her and at this rate it probably would.

"Alright listen. I found something interesting in Greendale's infrastructure. Turns out there's some kind of tunnels and rooms down there-"

  
"Oh, yeah. I heard they were used by the building mechanics before they moved," Troy said.  
  
Annie nodded, "This solves the problem of not being able to get into the deeper archives with the financial details. All we have to do is enter in the bathroom and then follow the tunnels to-"

  
"Shhhh..." Abed interrupted, he pointed to the movie.

  
Annie sighed and crossed her arms. "Fine, I'll do it alone." She waited for one of them to interject. "Guys!"

  
"It's probably safer not to do it all.” Troy said before his attention resumed onto the food on the counter before him and he stuffed another cookie in his mouth.

Annie pursed her lips as she looked at her two best friends. “I am going to meet with Robert Laybourne. He has the key to entrance and hopefully the codes the doors. Feel free to come.”

She got no response from them. She huffed in annoyance and stormed out of the apartment. If no one was going to help her, then she would finish what they’d started all by herself. She pulled out the sheet of paper where’d she’d scribbled the address of where this Laybourne guy would most likely be according to the librarian. It was some bar called L Street.

~~

Jeff held the small vial of clear liquid in between his fingers. The kill had to look like a heart attack and this drug would ensure that. Not to mention it wouldn’t kick in for about 30 minutes, long enough for him to get out. Before he would change his mind he entered The Red Door Bar. The bouncer glanced briefly at his ID but payed little attention.

The first thing he took into account was the music. It had a heavy baseline with come intense techno guitar. People stood around talking or sitting at table. The bar was lined with what appeared to be a bachelorette party. He noted the second exit and the door marked ‘Authorized Personal Only’. He didn’t bother paying much attention to them. Just regular party people.

Finally he turned his attention to the VIP lounge. It was a roped off section on a platform in a corner of the bar. There was one man standing at the entrance. He had shaggy brown hair and a suit that fit just a bit too big. He was texting on his phone, next to him a clipboard with a list of names.

Jeff casually approached while typing random buttons on his phone to give off the appearance of being busy. He gave the list a quick glance, finding a name that hadn’t been crossed out.

The man noticed him and picked up the list. “Name?”

“Cuthbertson.” Jeff silently hoped he’s pronounced that right.

The man looked at the list. “Oh, of course Mr. Nigel Cuthbertson. Mr. Laybourne has been looking forward to meeting you and your wife. Where is she?” The man glanced back at the bar.

“Uh, she couldn’t-“

“When Mr. Laybourne meets with couples who are interested in investing he always insists on meeting with them both. He’s had some difficulties in the past with couple not quite agreeing on things. He thought he made that clear? It would be shame if he couldn’t meet with boith of you. Especially since you flew all the way in from England.”

Jeff sighed, mentally cussing himself out. Should have chosen a different name. “Uh. Yeah. I’ll go get her. I think she’s having just a little too much fun here in the states.”

The man nodded and looked back down at his phone.

Jeff sighed again and turned away. Okay, this was going to be harder than he thought.

~~

Annie was confused and slightly terrified. Multiple times people had called the bar ‘The Red Door’ instead of L Street and she was terrified her fake ID wasn’t going to fool the bouncer. Her birthday wasn’t that far off anyways, maybe he’d be nice. As she approached she held out the ID and puffed out her chest trying to look like she knew exactly what she was doing. She had already memorized every aspect of the lie and was prepared to tell it a million different ways.

He gave the ID a glance, gave her a glance, and then handed it back with a small nod. She felt somewhat disappointed that she memorized all that for nothing. Nonetheless, she stepped inside and looked around. She was suddenly extremely nervous and disgusted. She’d never been in a bar like this before but she’d always imagined them with a little more class.

She ignored the smell of alcohol and music blaring at a ridiculous volume and tried to focus on finding where Laybourne was. Sure enough there was a VIP area. As she started to walk towards it, she faltered. Heart hammering, she quickly turned away. She found herself moving towards the bar. Liquid courage, right? That’s what alcohol is supposed to be. She stopped at the bar as if in a trance.

“What’ll it be?” The lady behind the bar asked. She had a no-nonsense face and very muscly arms.

“Uhh… nothing. Nevermind.” She turned away quickly, terrified at the idea of drinking at a place like this and disgusted at herself for considering such a thing. She turned away and as she was heading back towards the VIP lounge to try again she ran into someone. She hardly even processed it she was so on edge until she was looking at some very well-toned arms with sleeves rolled up the elbow. She put a hand out to balance herself, touching the stranger’s chest feeling only hard muscle. Her heart, which had already been hammering away, skipped a couple beats. She looked up and found herself looking at a face she thought she was never going to see again. The face that had caused a rift in the group when they’d discovered the danger of what they were doing and how unwilling they were to risk it. All those memories came back and bitch-slapped her in the face as she looked into his very handsome eyes.

While Annie stared in silence, her mouth hanging open, Jeff stared back. Now that kind of reaction wasn’t common but it wasn’t like girls brains hadn’t short-circuited at the sight of him before. He’d even had that effect on some men. But then he noticed that this particular hot girl was someone he had seen before. She was the reason his life had been going downhill. The reason he had been forced to work piece of shit jobs. He stared at her with anger but also couldn’t take his eyes off her lips. Whatever lipstick she was wearing was making those things pop.

She spoke first.

“What the hell?!?!?” She almost yelled voice shrill.

He nearly tackled her. “Keep it down!”

“Get away from me! What are you doing here?” She hissed while glancing around.

“Relax. I’m not here for you.”

She relaxed but not by much. “Then who the hell are you here for, grim reaper?” She spit the last part, eyes furious and mocking.

“I can’t tell you that, princess.” Wow, step up your insult game, Jeff. Step it up.

She looked offended anyways. “I’m going to pretend you don’t exist. And you do the same. I have someone I need to meet with. Okay, I don’t want to deal with this. There are more important things at stake here.” She pushed past him with new confidence.

Jeff turned and watched as she walked towards the VIP lounge. The man put his phone away and picked up the sheet. Now, either this was very stupid or fate wanted him to succeed.

“Name?”

Before she could answer, Jeff rushed up and grabbed her hand. “Found the missus!” He gave a light chuckle and intertwined their fingers. The man gave little notice, just crossed off the name and unhooked the rope to let them through. Jeff quickly walked through, pulling Annie with him.

She was too shocked to say anything at first. “What?”

“Okay listen. You obviously need to talk to Laybourne but I need him dead. So how about we go talk, you get whatever info you need, then you let me do my thing, huh? It’s a win-win.”

Annie stared him then down at his hand still holding hers. Her hands looked so small compared to his. “Uh… You want me to pretend to be your girlfriend?”

“No.” Jeff pulled her closer and slung on arm around her shoulders as they approached the man in question. “I want you to pretend to be my wife.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just FYI most of this chapter was written being 1 and 3 AM.  
> Also, I want to hear feedback! I love getting comments, it is my life force. And Kudos, do that too. You guys are great for reading. I'm open to suggestions on my writing abilities. Those are helpful, especially if my commas are making unwelcome guest appearances.  
> P.S. If you like my writing or maybe you just want more fics in the world feel free to request fics. Can be other fandoms too. I'm looking for ideas on what to write fics on.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm pretty open to any ships anybody might be looking for. Also I really want to hear what you guys think and suggestions to improve my writing.


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